June 1945. It used its Liberators as transports, flying personnel from Trinidad to Florida. The unit was inactivated in Trinidad during July 1945. The squadron was redesignated as very heavy bomber squadron in 1945, but remained inactive. Airlift operations In February 1953, Tactical Air Command activated the 465th Troop Carrier Group at Donaldson Air Force Base, South Carolina to replace the 433d Troop Carrier Group, a reserve unit that had been mobilized for the Korean War. The squadron was redesignated the 780th Troop Carrier Squadron and assumed the personnel, mission and aircraft of the 309th Troop Carrier Squadron, which was simultaneously inactivated. The 443d Group was in the process of converting to the Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar from the Curtiss C-46 Commando it was flying when mobilized at the time it was replaced by the 465th. The squadron's intended base at Évreux-Fauville Air Base, France was still under construction, so in December, the 465th Group and the squadron moved to Toul-Rosières Air Base, France. In November the squadron's ground echelon sailed on the , while the air echelon departed Donaldson with their C-119s at the beginning of December. Although construction at Toul had progressed, it could only accommodate a single flying squadron, and the group's other squadrons moved to bases in Germany. By April 1954, construction at Toul was advanced enough that its parent 465th Troop Carrier Wing and the other flying squadrons could join it. The squadron participated in airlift operations, tests and exercises in Europe. Although the squadron mission was troop carrier, there were few American airborne troops in Europe, and it focused on theater airlift flights, particularly supporting fighter units deploying to Wheelus Air Base for training at the ranges there. In March 1957, the 465th Wing reorganized under the dual deputy model. The 465th Group was inactivated and the 780th was reassigned directly to the 465th Wing. Four months later, the 465th Wing inactivated and transferred its operational squadrons to the 317th Troop Carrier Wing, which had moved to Évreux-Fauville Air Base from its former station at Neubiberg Air Base, Germany. The squadron continued airlift operations in France until inactivating in March 1958. Expeditionary operations The 780th was converted to provisional status in June 2002 as the 780th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron. It was reactivated in 2014 to facilitate the U.S. and NATO withdrawal in Afghanistan. During its activity from January 2014 until the end of the